Take a look inside the Titanic Belfast attraction

The Titanic Belfast attraction nears completion in The Titanic Quarter on March 13 in Belfast. Belfast's Titanic Quarter is a regeneration area on the original site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard - birthplace of RMS Titanic.

Peter Morrison / AP

A model-like sculpture of the Titanic on display at the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center.

"What happened to the Titanic was a disaster," said Tim Husbands, chief executive of Titanic Belfast, a 100 million pound ($160 million) visitor attraction due to open March 31, in advance of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. "But the ship wasn't."

Belfast is banking on the global reach of the Titanic name, a fame given new momentum by James Cameron's hit 1997 movie, which set Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's star-crossed love story aboard the doomed liner.